29 November 2011

Wake The Sleeping Giant

This is a poem written by my friend, Ruth, on her marvelous blog Synch-ro-ni-zing, posted on November 24 and entitled: What To Do On Thanksgiving. If you like great poetry, check out hers.

Take

the torch

down from the wall

and bravely wake

the sleeping giant

of your soul

Stir

dormant magnificence

out of her crouching

fraction of light

Strengthen

hibernating

hips arms and legs

into stomp

and thunder

on the dance floor of

your particular praise!

This great poem and call to action mobilized me mightily, got me meditating and writing for hours. To write in answer seemed to be a way to find my vision at this time, my dreams for the future. Ruth's poem contains two important questions:

1. Who is this sleeping giant of my soul?

2. What do I thunder in particular praise of?

When I was 19 years old, on a week long retreat, I had a vivid vision (not the seeing kind of vision) while praying. I tried to put it in words but it left me speechless. It was a sweeping, certain kind of knowing that we are all one. Humans in our totality and diversity, animals as fellow creatures, protectors, and guides, all things living - trees, plants and flowers, all things in nature - mountains, land, sea and sky. All. One. And that this is the divine, the sacred, the whole, the holy. The priest on that retreat said it was heresy when I told him, but I've held that vision in my heart as a gift given to me.
It was the only vision of my life but it was enough, it's the ground of my being.

I thunder in praise of this vision.

Other things I thunder in praise of:

- Knowing what makes me come alive and doing it.

- Mining the wisdom of elders, of grandmothers, in association with other grandmothers who bring their voices to the issues of the day, who say what they see, who are the solution we're looking for.

- Working to increase real respect for women and children, to make the world better, healthier and happier for our grandchildren. Love is the way.

- The beauty of art and being near artists who present what is beautiful and true.

Who is my sleeping giant? She likes:

- To move, to hike, to run, and to live in a beautiful place.

- To read and have some people with whom to discuss what I read.

- To write and be in community with other writers, including poets, who like to share their work.

- To raise plants, care for them, propagate them and learn more about local ones.

- To eat local food raised organically and sustainably while living lightly on the land.

- To walk a spiritual path in fellowship with other seekers and to find ways to be of service.

- To gather the young women of my family yearly to foster deepening bonds, family healing and remain a part of the lives of these amazing Dear Ones.

- To love John in new ways and enjoy the company of others in long-term committed relationships who share and encourage one another.

- To live in a community of people who are awake, aware, alive. A community characterized by respect, kindness, attention and courage, who share resources in some way, and where individual strengths are enhanced. A diverse community, multi-racial, multi-cultural, men and women, old and young (lots of kids), gay and straight. A creative community.

- To have more contact with Kelly, Carl and the grands. To live in community with them. To have their strengths, skills and perspectives in my community. To help home school the grands.

Some of what emerged surprised me (like the last two), some is familiar but comes together in a new way. I'll sit with it and let it percolate some more. I've summarized here but there are pages of writing. My friend, Nancy, over at Life in the Second Half who agrees the revolution is love, has been asking for awhile about drawing together a community and I was intrigued but didn't feel the tug toward it until now. I have no idea how this will manifest but the energy is flowing.
What if we all woke our sleeping giant and stirred our dormant magnificence?

20 comments:

I sat in front of the computer after having read this, trying to think of an appropriate response, but nothing came. I read it all again, and the only thing that seems right is to applaud. I'm applauding and smiling at the same time. Kudos!

Oh what a tremendous post, and response to the Thanksgiving poem. I feel something stirring in me as I read and contemplate what happened in you; could it be my own giant soul responding to yours?

There is something so incredibly powerful about this inventory you took. But it began when you were 19! The epiphany you experienced (and ecstasy, I think?) is something no one can conjure (though many try), but is transformative, as you show. Then, something clicked in you when you read my poem. Your sleeping giant was so ready to stir and rise up! Then to explore her as you have, with such depth and attention, is truly to respect and nurture the ground within you. I see the soul like a log in the wood stove, and the spirit is the flame that burns that fuel. For you to recognize these things within you that drive you is to feel love and desire to express in all the ways you've listed! It is thrilling.

People think they should do this, or that. The thing is, if they would only connect (didn't EM Forster say that?), they would find the energy within to do just what their soul wants, and it is nearly effortless when done out of love and passion!

Ruth, Thank you for the depth of your listening to what I tried to say. I pictured us sitting and talking over a cup of tea as I read. Yes, the experience of my 19yr old self although it got squelched for a time because of the priest's response, was an ecstatic epiphany. And it got triggered again by your poem in a dramatic way. It was ready, things have been brewing. I appreciate the image of the wood stove. The spirit is burning! To have a clearer view of what my soul wants, what it loves, what it is moving towards is thrilling. Even though I don't know how these things will manifest, my friend annee says that part is not my business. Energy is flowing though!

Very interesting. I want to explore this. I think at times I am afraid to wake that sleeping giant. I think it is helpful to have those others in our lives that help draw out who and what the sleeping giant is.

I just love everything about this post! The call is loud and clear now - no more can we ignore it. We are here to use our gifts. I think you had a shamanic vision. Have you read The Way of the Shaman, by Michael Horner? I attended a shamanic workshop while in Hawaii but had to leave because of an annoying cough. As I was leaving a man handed me this book and I realized I needed to read it before attending another workshop - but it talks about everything you envisioned! The Shamans are being called back into service, I think - only in a very modern way. Terrific post!

Judith, It means the world to me that you read my blog and that you support me and my voice. I love you.

Nancy, We are here to use our gifts- together. I'm familiar with Harner and after his workshop I was strengthened to reclaim my 19 year old's vision which was hidden away in my heart up to then and shared only with my Honey up to then. He has taken up the study of Celtic Shamanism.

looks like we will have LOTS to talk about!! this is what i would love to do for my children which means this is really what i need to do for me. for them, i would like to help that giant never sleep....i wanted to say they are so much closer to their connection but that is not true....we are all close because that spirit is within us all but perhaps it is just that their calling has had less chance to be squelched and i would love to do all in my power to keep their connections open, awake, alive. and the only way i can do that is to keep my connections open, awake, alive, to hear the call, trust the call and follow the call. i love hearing of your process. my deepest call right now is knowing that i am living in the right place. i don't know a whole lot else but it feels good to know that =)!! I LOVE YOU!!

Kelly, Right now your energy is focused on where to be and you're honoring that. For the rest, you'll follow your energy. Me too. And yes, we have lots to talk about. I'm eager to be with you. Hugs and love galore!

Beautiful, thoughtful, rich and spiritual. Love your thoughts about creativity and our call to not only enrich ourselves but others creativity too. At this age I celebrate the wisdom that comes with all the experience, the roads we have walked and the people we have met. I love your blog and your musing while looking inward.

Katherine, Thanks for stopping by and commenting. This was sparked by Ruth's poem and surprised me as it sprung forth. Writing helps me access myself in a unique way somewhat like talking does at other times.

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About Me

As an ancestor in training I'm staying active and alert in this my middle decade of old age. In my first decade I retired and moved to Antigua and Italy to have adventures in other cultures. Traveling around the Caribbean and Europe for nine years grew me out of my too- small self and gave me a bigger world view and my place in it. That was quite an education. I'm married to my best friend and main squeeze for 44 years and have a daughter who's saving the rain forest together with her husband. Through her two children's tutelage I'm learning how to grandmother. It's a work in progress demanding fierce love, scoops of creativity as well as considerable fun along the way. I love my life.

Show up & Show Your Soul

We are needed, that is all we can know. …One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to show up and show your soul….To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these- to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. (Clarissa Pinkola Estes)